Bringing Learning to Life:Day 4: Where to buy real estate?

Finding a market to buy and work in can be the most difficult part of real estate investing. When we were trying to make that decision, I spent a lot of time reading, researching and comparing essential components.

When choosing an investment location there are many questions you must ask:
1. What is the employment rate in the area?
2. What major industry/companies have headquarters based in the area?
3. Are there new businesses projected to be in the area?
4. Are there new development projects such as sports arenas or malls?
5. What is the cost of living?
6. What is the status of any military bases in the area?
7. Is the market satiated with local and out of town real estate investors?
8. What is the average investment property selling for?
9. What are average rents?
10. What are typical vacancy rates in the area?

Some places you can find answers to these questions:
1. Home page of the town/city
2. Bureau of Labor Statistics: www.bls.gov
3. Global Property Guide: www.globalpropertyguide.com
4. Realty Trac
5. Foreclosure.com
6. ALL investor clubs in the town or state...this is a must
7. Yahoo groups about investment real estate in the area
8. Money Magazine
9. Fortune Magazine
10. Entrepreneur Magazine Real Estate Radio

Once you decide you strategy, deciding where to invest is your most important decision. this decision took us almost seven months. Remember, you don't have to invest locally. You have to invest in an area that you can reasonably afford, will support your investment strategy, and has viable property management. Good luck with your research. Hopefully you're buying some of those Rich Dad books that I highly recommend. Just click on the link below for great prices. Happy Reading

Bringing Learning to Life

As I have mentioned, Jeff and I did not always have the philosophies we have now. Maybe we did, but they were so buried that it took a genius to reveal them to us!

Back in the spring of 2006, we were at a dinner party hosted by an old climbing friend of mine. There was a hair stylist there with his girl friend. He seemed to take to Jeff and they both got talking about real estate and the power of making your own money for yourself. At the end of the evening, he recommended we read


That was it. That was the first step to freedom. Jeff read the whole paperback in a matter of days, I read the audio book




The best step we could have taken was to read the book by ourselves. It gave each of us time to struggle with money beliefs that had been taught to us by people and relatives. Once we sat down and talked about our reaction to the book, we knew we had something. We were struggling with infertility, we had some time and money (not a lot) on our hands, and we both genuinely wanted to go in the same life direction.
If you are flying solo, or want to leap into life with someone special, this is the book to get your head in the right place.

This week I will be talking about the many books that we read by Robert Kiyosaki. Quickly, I will walk you through the exact steps I took to find our first piece of investment real estate using all of Robert Kiyosaki's plan.





Following that I will discuss how we transitioned into business, what books we read and what steps we took. Are you ready to try something new? If you need a direction and a road map...get ready! Over the next month, I will give you free information that is priceless and costed us more than we would like to admit.

I am so excited about sharing with you our steps to success. Sleep well, we have a lot of learning ahead. Be Brave and Buy the Book.

How to decide, when to straddle a job and when to LEAP!

Some of you may love the idea of working for yourself, or writing a book or following through with an invention. You may even see that one can make a profit in this real estate market. But you are probably questioning the feasibility of your ideas.

When we began, we decided to read a lot of books and attend many seminars before we leapt. If you are one of those individuals I mentioned above, here are some steps toward getting clear in you mind what you really want to do.

1. Write down all of the ideas you have wanted to try or explore.

2. Make a list of your skills and attributes. Skills are traits that you bring to the table that would enhance a business (i.e.-organized, creative, inquisitive, well-liked, good with numbers...) An attribute is a personality niche that makes you unique (you find yourself funny, you enjoy being around hard workers, you are comfortable in chaos...)

3. Match up your skills and attributes as best as you can to your list of dreams or ideas.

4. When you find a match you like, seek out mentors who are already doing what you dream to do. Don't reinvent the wheel, put away the ego and find someone who can get you started.

5. While in your W2 job, pay attention to monthly bills. What do you really NEED each month to get everything paid? Necessities, not luxuries. That number is your goal income of what you would need to make on your own with your new idea if you leapt out of your W2 job.

6. If you can't make that in the first month or two of this new endeavor, then you straddle.

7. Straddling isn't as hard as it sounds. You find time everyday, seven days a week to work on your new endeavor. Build up income, ideas, connections and money until you are ready to leap.

That's pretty simple, but a good point to get started with your thinking and action plan.

Thoughts are always going to be thoughts until you LEAP into action. One action is to continue reading this blog. I will have books, names and companies that can help you get started:)